What is biodiversity and why is it important? It is the spectrum of all lifeforms on earth, and the ecological processes that support them. The relationships between living things and their environment includes genetic diversity, species diversity, community diversity and ecosystems diversity. The continued assault on our natural environment and a growing awareness of species conservation must be part of our efforts to change behavior. Here we explore initiatives to ensure the preservation of plants, animals and natural occurring habitats that support a healthy ecological balance in nature. Always let us know the stories you have to share with us.
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A Resounding Vote for Open Space
Protect wide open spaces.
Almost unnoticed in the election results was some very good news for the environment — and for land preservation in particular. Despite the financial crisis, voters made it clear that they want to increase spending on preserving open land, even at the cost of higher taxes. Across the nation, voters approved $7.3 billion in new spending for parks and open-space preservation. Sixty-two of the 87 referendums to acquire or otherwise protect open space were approved.
Editorial - The New York Times , November 19, 2008
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Cities should do more to protect nature: U.N.
Promoting cities' biodiversity.
The world's burgeoning cities must do more to safeguard animals and plants by increasing parkland, planting trees and recycling resources, the U.N.'s top biodiversity official said on Wednesday. "The battle for life on earth will be won or lost in cities," Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, told Reuters. Cities cover just two percent of the planet's land area but dictate 75 percent of the use of the world's natural resources, he said. City dwellers have an impact far into the countryside, with rising demand for water and food.
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent - Reuters | Barcelona, Spain , October 08, 2008
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UN Millennium Development Goals Expand to Include Biodiversity
Critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.
For the first time, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is monitoring the world's plants and animals using the Red List Index developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN. Based on the comprehensive IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the index shows trends in the overall extinction risk for sets of species at global, regional and national levels. Until now, the seventh Millennium Development Goal, to ensure environmental sustainability, has not included any mention of biodiversity or the need to save species as a critical contribution to human development.
Environmental News Service | New York , September 29, 2008
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Native plants: The keys to our ecosystem
Butterflies feast on native joe-pye weed.
People in the gardening world are calling Doug Tallamy's new book on native plants the next "Silent Spring," Rachel Carson's 1962 book that warned of the dangers of chemical pesticides and helped launch the modern-day environmental movement. In his new book from Timber Press, "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens," Tallamy argues that native plants are vital to the survival of our ecosystems because they sustain native wildlife. When native plants disappear, so do the insects that have evolved with them, thus depriving birds and other animals the food they need to survive.
By Bill Cary - The Journal News | Hudson Valley, NY , September 20, 2008
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Conservancy Buys Slice of Adirondacks
Grand, breath taking beauty.
A 14,600-acre piece of the Adirondacks long prized by environmentalists for its forests and wetlands, including a pond where Ralph Waldo Emerson led a “philosophers’ camp,” was purchased on Thursday by a preservation group for $16 million, the group said. The property, which had been owned by a Vermont family for 56 years, will not immediately be open to the public because of leases for recreational hunting and fishing that will last several more years. But the group, the Nature Conservancy, said the purchase meant that the land would be protected and ultimately added to the Adirondack Forest Preserve in Adirondack Park.
By Martin Espinoza - The New York Times , September 19, 2008
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New Study by UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii Scientists Offers...
A study published in the September 19 issue of Science shows that an innovative yet contentious fisheries management strategy called "catch shares" can reverse fisheries collapse. Where traditional "open access" fisheries have converted to catch shares, both fishermen and the oceans have benefited. "Our data, from over 11,000 fisheries worldwide, suggest that catch shares may be a powerful tool to overcome the widespread decline in global fisheries," Costello says. Catch shares are common in New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, and increasingly the United States and Canada. They guarantee each shareholder a fixed portion of a fishery's total allowable catch, which is set each year by scientists.
AScribe Newswire | Santa Barbara , September 18, 2008
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History grows on our trees
Apples are a microcosm of agriculture's shrinking biodiversity.
Auger, 54, is a modern-day Johnny Appleseed. His mission: to save apple varieties our grandparents crunched on when they were little. For 25 years, the teacher of tree husbandry at the CEGEP of Victoriaville has combed the back roads of the Appalachian foothills, 21/2 hours northeast of Montreal, near Thetford Mines, rescuing heirloom apples from oblivion. A century ago, every farm on these sweeping highlands had its own orchard. There were apples for eating and ones for cooking; summer apples and late-ripening varieties that lasted through the winter. But over the years, the Irish, Scottish, French and English families who settled the region in the early 19th century moved away. Place names like Inverness, Ireland and Dublin Rd. record their presence.
By Marian Scott - The Gazette | Montreal , September 13, 2008
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Study: U.S. lake, river fish in peril
Fisherman's paradise lost?
About four out of 10 freshwater fish species in North America are in peril, according to a major study by U.S., Canadian and Mexican scientists. And the number of subspecies of fish populations in trouble has nearly doubled since 1989, the new report says. One biologist called it "silent extinctions" because few people notice the dramatic dwindling of certain populations deep in American lakes, rivers and streams. And while they are unaware, people are the chief cause of the problem by polluting and damming freshwater habitats, experts said.
By Seth Borenstein - Associated Press | Washington, D.C. , September 11, 2008
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Friendly Invaders
Invasive species create diveristy.
New Zealand is home to 2,065 native plants found nowhere else on Earth. They range from magnificent towering kauri trees to tiny flowers that form tightly packed mounds called vegetable sheep. When Europeans began arriving in New Zealand, they brought with them alien plants — crops, garden plants and stowaway weeds. Today, 22,000 non-native plants grow in New Zealand. Most of them can survive only with the loving care of gardeners and farmers. But 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out across the islands on their own. There are more naturalized invasive plant species in New Zealand than native species.
By Carl Zimmer - The New York Times , September 9, 2008
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Namibian Leader Comments on Challenges in Conserving...
Elephant populations have quadrupled.
Addressing delegates from 26 African countries as well as China, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America (USA) during a breakfast meeting, Pohamba noted that Namibia has made a significant investment through the Protected Area Network, which currently covers over 14 per cent of the country's land surface area. Although the main aim of the protected area system is the conservation of biodiversity, protected areas have the potential to become engines for economic growth and to create employment opportunities for the people.
Namibian news agency - BBC | UK , September 05, 2008
